Monday, January 17, 2011

Tartine Bakery

We woke early on Saturday and finally made our way down to the Mission District for a long awaited breakfast at the well-known Tartine Bakery. However, when we arrived and say a line snaking out the door and down the block I immediately said "Forget it". Then I had second thoughts when I saw a women walk by me to an outdoor table with an espresso coffee in one hand and a plate with a croissant and something in a bowl that smelled divine. My stomach yelled at me, and I thought there was no way I could wait that long for breakfast. Luckily Brian knocked some sense into me, reminding me that we came all this way JUST for the bakery, so we were going to wait. 45 minutes later we ordered, scored a table outside, and sat down. O...M...G... literally the BEST pastries I have EVER had. It was amazing and completely worth the wait. Having stood in line for so long I told Bry I was ordering all sorts of stuff, just to make sure I got a taste of a few things. We ordered the bread pudding (topped with warm sautéed apples and the same thing I spied on everyone's table... I told the young lady I wanted what was in all the bowls I saw), double pain au chocolat, pain au jambon, and the morning bun (which they are famous for), and 2 drip coffees. Every item was off the hook. The first thing we dug into was the morning bun, still warm from the oven. The soft, beautiful dough pulled apart with little effort, a slight crisp from the sugar coat, then a delicate hint of orange essence. Heavenly. Bry bit into his savory croissant filled with ham and gruyere, the flavors were so soothing and satisfying at the same time; the flakey pastry dough perfect and varying in texture from the surface to the center- crispy and buttery to light and soft. The chocolate melted out of the pain au chocolat, a delicious morning treat. And the brioche bread pudding (while not bry's favorite) was moist, flavorful, warm, and the apples topping made a perfect accompaniment. Needless to say, we consumed our daily caloric intake in one sitting, and could not even finish all wonderfulness on our plates (good thing we ordered everything to-go, not sure if we would be taking our breakfast to Dolores Park). It was a great culinary trek and I 100% recommend this spot to anyone living/visiting San Francisco, within driving distance in the Bay Area, a resident of California, currently in the USofA, or a member of this planet... if you fit this criteria, you should visit Tartine. If it will be awhile until you make a voyage, or if you can't live without the wonderful after you've tasted it, check out their 2 cookbooks: Tartine and Tartine Bread. Fall in love, be amazed.